U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,859,204 and 4,867,700 disclose a transition adapter which is crimped onto a flat power cable by penetrating the insulation covering the cable's conductor and also shearing through the conductor at a plurality of locations. The cable is of the type entering commercial use for transmitting electrical power of for example 75 amperes nominal, and includes a flat conductor one inch wide and about 0.020 inches thick with an extruded insulated coating of about 0.004 to 0.008 inches thick over each surface with the cable having a total thickness averaging about 0.034 inches. U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,650 discloses a similar transition adapter separable into two discrete adapters which is especially useful with dual conductor flat cable, wherein a pair of parallel spaced coplanar flat conductor strips having insulation extruded therearound define power and return paths for electrical power transmission. The adapters have opposed plate sections disposed along respective major surfaces of the cable, the plate sections including termination regions transversely thereacross having arrays of shearing wave shapes alternating with relief recesses of equal width. The wave shapes extending outwardly from the cable-proximate side and toward relief recesses in the opposed plate section, and when the plate sections are pressed together with the cable therebetween, the arrays of wave shapes shear the cable into strips and simultaneously press the sheared strips out of the plane of the cable and into the opposing relief recesses, forming a series of interlocking wave joints with the cable while exposing newly sheared edges of the cable conductor or conductors for electrical connection therewith. Low resistance copper inserts along the cable-remote surfaces of the adapters include wave shapes conforming to the adapter wave shapes so that the sheared conductor strips become disposed between sides of the insert wave shapes, as do the shearing edges of the adjacent wave shapes of the opposing adapter. Thereafter a staking process deforms the metal of the low resistance copper inserts against the conductor edges to define gas-tight, heat and vibration resistant electrical connections with the cable conductor and with the transition adapter, so that the inserts are electrically in series at a plurality of locations between the conductor and the adapter. A contact section is integrally included on the transition adapter and extends from the now-terminated cable end, enabling mating with corresponding contact means of an electrical connector, or a bus bar, or a power supply terminal, for example.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,900,264 discloses electrical interconnection of one dual (or single) conductor flat power cable to another, forming a splice or a tap interconnection between the cables which mechanically joins the cables and electrically interconnects the respective ones of the pairs of cable conductors. The cables are first stacked with the ones of the conductors of each cable to be interconnected being adjacent each other. A pair of wave crimp structures are associated with each pair of conductors to be interconnected, with a lower one of the structures being disposed transversely below the cables and an upper one being disposed transversely above the cables opposed from the lower one; the two pairs of structures for the two pairs of conductors are spaced from each other along the cables and will both be disposed within a common housing at the interconnection site. Each pair of upper and lower structures define along one half adjacent the conductors to be interconnected, opposing arrays of shearing wave shapes and alternating recesses comprising cooperating shearing edges; the other half of each contains no shearing edges so that no electrical connection is made with the conductors not to be interconnected. The structures will then be pressed against the cable therebetween, shearing strips of the conductors to be interconnected and pressing alternating ones of the strips above and below the planes of the cables and exposing newly sheared conductor edges to be electrically interconnected by metal of the structures. Flanges of the upper and lower structures extend outwardly beyond both lateral edges of the cables and converts, and rivets are placed through aligned flange holes and staked to lock the structures to each other sandwiching the cables therebetween. The wave shapes of the low resistance metal insert of the structure are staked to deform the metal tightly against adjacent sheared conductor edges of the conductor strips between the insert wave shapes, defining a plurality of gas-tight, heat and vibration resistant electrical connections thus interconnecting the associated conductors of the pair of flat cables.
It is desired to provide a means for terminals for flat power cables and interconnectors for two such flat power cables, having upper and lower structures with opposing arrays of wave shapes for electrically connecting to flat conductors thereof, to assuredly self-secure to each other for improved mechanical fastening to each other and to the cable or cables.
It is also desired that such self-securing means be integral and easily activated upon cable termination.
It is further desired that such self-securing means not enlarge the outer envelope of the terminals or interconnecting structures enabling them to be compact.